Trainer Bjorn Baker revealed he is likely to bypass the Grafton Cup later this month to set Thebudgiesmugla for the spring carnival and will consider targeting the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup double.
All this from a five-year-old gelding who came from New Zealand with initial concerns he might be more suited to jumps racing after he was beaten in a restricted race at the provincials.
But Thebudgiesmugla, raced by leading syndicator Scott Darby of Darby Racing, has since won five of his eight starts including the Winter Cup-Caloundra Cup double and is now recognised as one of the most promising stayers in training.
“Thebudgiesmugla just keeps improving,” Baker said.
“He’s only lightly-raced, he’s a typical Kiwi stayer who is still maturing and he will be even better again next season.”There is some thought to going to the Grafton Cup and, although you never make decisions on raceday, I’m leaning to giving him a break and setting him for the spring carnival.
“I’ll have to sit down with the owners (Darby Racing) and work out what we do with this horse, you can’t run in everything, but we don’t know how good he is just yet because he keeps raising the bar every start.”
Thebudgiesmugla ($2.35 favourite) unleashed a powerful finishing burst to score by a half length from the game So You Are ($5) with Caboche ($8.50) nearly three lengths away third.
Star jockey Dylan Gibbons delayed his winter holiday to Fiji so he could ride Thebudgiesmugla and earned some travelling expenses with the gelding’s strong win.
It’s a long way from a Caloundra Cup in mid-winter to the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup but Half Yours famously completed the treble 12 months ago.
Earlier, the Tom Charlton-trained Cellarmaster won the Group 3 $300,000 Winx Guineas (1600m).
Cellarmaster ($5.50) edged out Platinum Pantheon ($6.50) in a thrilling finish with Rustemo ($8.50) just over a length away third.
Within The Law, the $2.60 favourite and a stablemate of Thebudgiesmugla, settled in just behind the leaders early, got an inside run at the top of the straight but didn’t finish her race off and laboured into sixth placing, beaten more than three lengths.
Charlton said Cellarmaster deserved his breakthrough big-race win.
“He enjoys being ridden a bit quieter, and we have learned that with him. It was a good performance,” Charlton said.
“I think he’ll keep improving, he’s definitely not the finished article. He’s a chance to run a bit further in time as well.”
Charlton said after Cellarmaster ran third in the Phar Lap Stakes in Sydney during the autumn carnival, the decision was made to target the Gunsynd Classic at Eagle Farm only to finish fifth to the talented Skyhook,
“We thought the Gunsynd was his sort of race, which it arguably was, but it was a bit stronger than normal because those horses like Skyhook didn’t get a run in the Stradbroke,” Charlton said. “But this was a touch weaker.
“We’ll give him a break and think about what we do. He is Magic Millions eligible so whether we think late summer prep into the Magic Millions, or whether we give him a couple of weeks off and come into the spring, we need to figure that out.”
